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The Telecom Digest for September 4, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 211 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Can YOU crack the Gauss uber-virus encryption? (Monty Solomon)
Apple will buy back-and recycle-your iPhone 4S (Monty Solomon)
Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits (Monty Solomon)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2012 19:52:17 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Can YOU crack the Gauss uber-virus encryption?
Message-ID: <p062408e6cc6aebdfc4fe@[10.0.1.6]>

Can YOU crack the Gauss uber-virus encryption?

Appeal for help to break open hidden scrambled payload

By John Leyden
14 August 2012
The Register

Antivirus experts have called on cryptographers and other clever bods 
for help after admitting they are no closer to figuring out the main 
purpose of the newly discovered Gauss supervirus.

While it's known that the complex malware features many 
information-stealing capabilities, with a specific focus on capturing 
website passwords, online banking account credentials and system 
configuration data from infected machines, the content of the virus's 
encrypted payload is still a mystery.

Kaspersky Lab had tracked Gauss for weeks before announcing its 
discovery last week. Antivirus experts at the security biz and 
elsewhere have been burning the midnight oil in the days since, and 
although progress has been made - for example in analysing its 
architecture [1], unique modules and communication methods - the 
payload encryption is unbroken.

Researchers reckon the hidden binary blob, when decrypted and 
executed, looks for a program specifically named using an extended 
character set, such as Arabic or Hebrew. What that program might be 
remains unclear as long as the encryption remains unbroken.

The general concuss among security experts is that Gauss - like 
Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet before it - is a nation-state sponsored 
cyber-espionage toolkit, quite possibly built from the same 
components as Flame.

...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/14/gauss_mystery_payload/




Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2012 20:06:00 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Apple will buy back-and recycle-your iPhone 4S
Message-ID: <p062408ebcc6af64434ab@[10.0.1.6]>

Apple will buy back-and recycle-your iPhone 4S
The move could be another indicator that a new iPhone is on the way.

by Jacqui Cheng
Aug 30 2012
Ars Technica

Apple has expanded its iDevice buyback program to include the iPhone 
4S ahead of a highly anticipated new iPhone launch. The buybacks are 
being done through Apple's recycling program, which not only recycles 
old electronics, but also allows users to trade in their 
used-but-still-functional Apple devices for Apple Store gift cards. 
The company made no formal announcement about the addition of the 
iPhone 4S, but recent retail discounts and rumors of a pending media 
event have helped to fuel speculation that the iPhone 4S is ready to 
be replaced.

We recently discussed Apple's recycling program in a piece about 
places to sell your old electronics. To sell Apple your old iPhone 
4S, you are required to answer a number of questions about whether it 
boots up, has seen any kind of water damage, has scuffs or marks, can 
hold a full battery charge, and so on. For a 32GB iPhone 4S that 
works properly, has no water damage, but has a few scuffs, Apple 
offers $280 in gift cards. (That's not a bad price, considering that 
many users probably bought their iPhone 4S with subsidized discounts 
from their carriers. A new 32GB iPhone 4S cost $299 last year from 
AT&T and Verizon.)

...

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/08/apple-will-buy-back-and-recycle-your-iphone-4s/




Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2012 19:52:17 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits
Message-ID: <p062408e5cc6aeb6caa27@[10.0.1.6]>

Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits

First hacktivist-style assault to use malware?

By John Leyden
29 August 2012
The Register

Analysis Saudi Aramco said that it had put its network back online on 
Saturday, 10 days after a malware attack floored 30,000 workstations 
at the oil giant.

In a statement [1], Saudi Arabia's national oil firm said that it had 
"restored all its main internal network services" hit by a malware 
outbreak that struck on 15 August. The firm said its core business of 
oil production and exploration was not affected by the attack, which 
resulted in a decision to suspend Saudi Aramco's website for a period 
of a few days, presumably as a precaution. Corporate remote access 
services were also suspended as a result of the attack.

Oil and production systems were run off "isolated network systems 
unaffected by the attack, which the firm has pledged to investigate. 
In the meantime, Saudi Aramco promised [2] to improve the security of 
its network to guard against fresh assaults.

...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/saudi_aramco_malware_attack_analysis/






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